The exhaust on the Camry V6 is finally failing (after 13 years). A Toyota replacement is £288 plus fitting and VAT. As good as it is, the car won't do another 13 years, but I don't really want a Kwik-Fit job.
I thought to try out a custom-build stainless steel supplier and found a newish chain called Longlife Stainless Steel Exhausts (www.exhausts.uk.com/). Price for the Camry V6 unit, whether they take out the old cat or leave it in, will be £329 all in, which sounds all right. Does anyone know if they are any good?
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They built my exhausts for my Morgan three wheeler, and judging by that it is cheap, but I guess they know how to do that one, unlike mine which was an "inventanexhaust" afternoon.
Might be a tad noisier in stainless, but will probably breath better since as far as I know they usually make absorbtion silencers, not ones with tortuous baffles.
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Have you considered asking an indepedant garage to fit the Toyota system?
number_cruncher
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Longlife are a reputable company, who offer a lifetime guarantee on their exhausts, they will custom make the exhaust to fit your car. I'd recommend them!
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I've just had a Longlife SS exhaust fitted to my Capri. I went to their Carshalton branch. They worked on it for seven hours, the bill being £399, which was about 20?30% higher than the all-in cost of fitting a mild-steel system.
I was anticipating a bit more noise than with a mild-steel system. This has proved correct, especially from inside the car, although the exhaust note is sweet when heard outside.
What persuaded me to go to Longlife was their prompt and professional responses to my e-mail enquiries. Further, they have offered to do more work without charge to get the noise down to my level of comfort by adding tailpipe inserts, and I'm going to get that done shortly.
So, I guess I'd recommend them.
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Hi all
I'm quite keen on getting a stainless exhaust as a long-term measure. However, I've got a Golf GTi and all the insurance companies always focus upon the 'modifications to car' question when offering a quote - I even got a quote increased when they found out it had the 'genuine' BBS alloys fitted! It's entirely bog-standard (the wheels are genuine VW optional extras), I don't really want to turn it into a boy-racer, I'm just looking at getting an exhaust that won't need looking at every few years.
Does anyone konw if such exhausts can be classified as genuine parts, or must be labeled as modifications? I see it as a grey area, as strictly speaking I could get an exact replica of the GTi exhaust, but made of a different material. Would this count?
I pose the question as I keep getting hammered by insurance companies, despite only 1 claim for theft in 8 years - I would try asking my insurance company, but I'm not sure how representative that would be of the opinion of the insurance industry as a whole.
All advice gratefully received
Matt
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What mark golf gti do you have? Is it an 8 or 16 valve.
If you fit a stainless system you will have to inform your insurance company. Some companies will add to premium, others won't.
If its a mk.2 try the boy racer companies. Some offer great premiums to people with "modified" cars.
I used to own a mk.2 gti 16v. At that time VW were selling genuine systems really cheaply (ie only a little bit more than euro crap parts). I would contact them for a price. Exhausts on mk.2 regularly lasted 10 years from new, and although the ones they were selling a couple of years ago were not quite this good, they were still very good quality. I doubt you would ever have to replace again. Most after market systems will be noise and most will not offer any performance advantage. However, supersprint are quiet unless you miss out silencers, and dont adversely affect power output. But they are not stainless.
The issue with stainless exhausts is cracking. Depending upon how much of the system you have replaced will depend how much of an issue this will be. If you replace the downpipe with a stainless section you will need to ensure your engine mounts are in good nick (mk.2 mounts not being the best in the world).
www.haywardandscott.co.uk do good exhausts.
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Thanks for all your answers. Looks like this is a goer. The SS exhaust can be fitted in place of the cat which would certainly mean freer breathing, though more noise. Not sure I need any more performance until and unless new shock absorbers are fitted! And yes, the price for the Toyota part was given to an indy garage who would have fitted the part.
This after a breaker in Gloucester said it had got one for £40 and would send it up to town tout de suite. Three weeks later I was still twiddling my thumbs so had to enlist the support of the 24/7 Spares network, who to their credit jumped straight on the prob and got me my money back within a day, so top marks there.
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Here is my story about Longlife Exhausts. I had a full system including cat fitted at Walsall and it was very noisy and not fitted very well(it was hiting a cross member going over bumps)
I complained and took the car to their head office near Bristol and to their credit they replaced the the system from the new cat back and paid for my petrol. However, since then the car has had a misfire and the emissions are too high for mot pass.
In the space of two months my engine diagnostic man who is usually very good has replaced a faulty cam sensor, coil, plug leads and then the throttle body failed, this has also been replaced but the car is still not right. He reckons the problem is lack of back pressure from the exhaust, my next option is to change back to a factory exhaust and new cat to see if that cures the problem. I will keep you posted
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As N_C said why not try a trusted independent. Labour charge is usually a lot less than toyota. And may do a better job. I for one am not in favour of removing cat. Its there for a good reason ie its a converter. Also. not so sure stainless exhaust is going to be of benefit?. As old system lasted 13 yrs. what makes you think another wont last that long?. You did say you didnt expect it to last that long. IIRC toyota engines are fussy with exhaust/inlet changes. may be wrong?
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Was mech1
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